land flip

Fraudulent practice of artificially increasing the book value of an undeveloped parcel of land well above its fair market value. A group of colluding buyers purchases and resells several times the same property among its members, each time increasing its price. The group then tries to sell the property (or raise a loan for its development) at an unrealistically high price to the detriment of its buyers (or lenders) who stand the risk of losing large sums when the property's value declines to its true market value.